Dessie Farrell says that inter-county GAA players do not "feel they are slaves in any way" and have "their eyes wide open" when entering the game at an elite level.

The debate over player burn-out has re-ignited in the wake of the recent criticism by former All-Ireland winner Joe Brolly, who claims that the joy was gone out of playing and has described players as "indentured slaves".

But speaking to Newstalk's Nathan Murphy at today's Gaelic Players’ Association annual report launch, its chief executive Farrell said: "We’ve been doing player welfare and player development for a number of years now so we know exactly the challenges that players face.

"Ultimately players have a choice - whether they want to commit to a county career or not.

"Playing elite level sport isn’t easy. Players go into this with eyes wide open.

"For the most part they really enjoy it."

He added: "I don’t think that players feel they’re slaves to the games in any way."

The former Dublin player also said the GPA "can’t win" when it comes to accusations that they are too close to the GAA.